My wedding (and yes, vintage clothing)

Something I want to do on my blog is to share items from my own personal collection of vintage clothing. And I thought the perfect place to start would be my wedding dress. To make a long story short, this was actually the third wedding dress (yes, I know) that I bought for my wedding this past summer. I wasn't looking for it (since I already had two other dresses), but I walked into a local vintage clothing shop, I saw it hanging on the wall, and I knew I had to try it on. When I saw myself in the mirror, I had one of those moments you see on shows like "Say Yes to the Dress." I started tearing up, and then I thought, "I am beautiful," and then, "this is the dress for my wedding." It was a moment that my pragmatic, anti-WIC self wasn't looking for or expecting.

My fiance and I had a small, somewhat nontraditional wedding (think summer garden party meets family picnic), so I wasn't looking for a fancy, elaborately styled dress. And while I love wearing white, this was the dress that ended up speaking to me. It has a couple layers of peach netting with a cream lace overlay. It's semi-sheer, so I wore a slip and one petticoat (I wanted a little bit of fullness, but I didn't want the skirt to be so wide it would overpower my frame).

A couple notes on my accessories (which I loved as much as or almost as much as my dress):

I adored my shoes. I had been coveting a pair of Chie Mihara shoes for a long time, but these shoes are typically not in my budget. I decided for my wedding that I would splurge and buy the pair of shoes I wanted. And I'm so glad I did. Not only are they bright mint green (!), they are the most comfortable pair of heels I own. I was able to spend most of my wedding day (standing and walking) in them, including trips to major DC sites (the second pic above is in the atrium of the National Portrait Gallery) after the wedding was over, without killing my feet beyond what being on your feet, walking around all day, would normally do. Even better, totally by chance, my husband ended up with shoes (custom made Vans) that were almost exactly the same color.

My necklace was a 50s rhinestone almost-choker bought from romantica on etsy. I spent hours looking at vintage necklaces online and in local shops. I was trying to find a blue glass art deco necklace, but at the time (which was, admittedly, about a month before the wedding), I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I ended up with blue rhinestones instead. I think it worked well.

My hairpiece was made by the talented whichgoose on etsy. My favorite flowers are peonies, and since we were committed to using local flowers for our wedding, and since it was the end of July, peonies weren't an option. So the minute I saw this headband, I knew it was what I had to wear in my hair.